Day 15 - Kochi | Travel Blog

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February 2nd 2012

Published: February 2nd 2012

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stewmarg

Mumbai Airport

whose legs could these possibly be

From our balcony this morning, we had a perfect view of the local kids playing cricket before they went to school/work - at 9 o'clock they had all disapeared. We have witnessed this scene throughout our journey through India - sometimes not enough money to buy a cricket bat, but using a substitute - branch of tree or lump of wood. The wicket is not usually green but more usually sandy. We now realise just how enthusiastic they are about cricket - naturally our guides are somewhat embarrassed at present.

Kochi was the first European settlement in India, founded by the Portuguse in the early 16th century and retained by them for 163 years as the centre of the spice trade. The Europeanism remains to this day, obvious by the ethnic and religious mix on the streets today. Statistics - 47% Hindu, 35% Christian (majority Catholic) and as such one of the few Indian cities without Hindu majority.

We visited the Santa Cruz Basilica, we were all very impressed and lit two candles there.

In this region, it is common to see gentlemen of any religion wearing a garment around his waist consisting of a length of material

Kochi

we are here

of 1.5 meters which can worn either long or tucked up to knee length. If the garment is white it is a mundu which is formal and if the garment is coloured it is informal and called a lunghi.

We were interested to visit the Chinese Fishing Nets, so named as they were introduced from Macau by the Portuguese. The nets work on the cantilever principle i.e. fulcrum in the middle, net on one end, weight on the other. Using the weights (stone blocks) the square nets are lowered into the water, left for say five minutes and then lifted out again - hopefully full of fish.

ALERT - we have developed a problem on our MacBook Laptop when we try to upload our photos we get a picture of a cup with a red exclamation mark. Help you techies!! What do we do?????

We have got 27 fantastic photos to share.

AU SECOURS

ALERTE - nous avons un problème avec notre MacBook Laptop. Quand nous essayons de uploader nos photos nous recevrons une photo d'une tasse avec un point d'interregotion - !. Qu'est ce que nous devrons faire????

Additional photos below

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